Heroes of Newerth has released all its heroes as free-to-play in their latest patch.

Previously players would have a limited hero pool available with the ability to purchase heroes with real world money (Gold coins) or in game earned currency (Silver Coins). Now with the full hero pool available from the beginning, S2 will need to rely on purchases of Vanity items such as alternative skins, announcer packs or early access.

The goal behind this initiative, called “All Heroes Free”, is to attract more players to the game and, according to director Pi Liu, “level the eSports playing field, as all players will be able to build their skills and advance their strategies with any hero they choose.”

While Heroes of Newerth has a busy competitive scene with the DreamHoN competition boasting a $60,000 prize pool, it is still seen as the underdog compared to League of Legends and DotA 2 by the gaming community. This initiative is expected to open the gates and increase the player base with balance being unaffected.

“The international scene, it’s been phenominal especially in the South East Asian region, how quickly and rapidly it’s been growing over these last couple of months. It’s constantly expanding, Heroes of Newerth is going international. It’s showing with the player count, it’s showing with the activity.”

S2 has listened to the fans down under by setting up an Australia region for Ranked Matches. Oceanic players will now be able to earn Silver Coins without having to worry about large latency.

Those who purchased a hero on and after July 5th will be issued a refund. Those who have spent money previously on the game have received a free Mecha Gemini avatar.

It’ll be interesting to see whether the new player base will be enough to offset the costs of running and maintaining the game.

For those who may be unfamiliar with the MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) genre, you should read our breakdown of DotA, LoL and HoN.